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He squinted at me and stepped closer, his chest only inches from mine, his powerful aura crackling in the air and making my skin tingle with electricity. I probably should have sprinted away as fast as possible, but my feet were rooted, and I wasn’t even sure it was because he was holding me with a spell. I felt mesmerized by his eyes, his presence—trapped even without acage.
“But if you keep killing the criminals I’m sent to arrest, Iwillmake an exception. They should be punished and rehabilitated so they can be useful members of society, not slain by some vigilante executioner.” He thrust an arm in the direction of the tunnels and the chamber—the chamber now filled with rubble and cars. “You’re an anarchist, and your methods are unacceptable.” His eyes blazed, boring intomine.
I had thought he’d given up on wanting to kill me, but now, I wasn’t so sure. A shiver of fear went through me, but I made myself lift my chin and glare back at him. “My methods are legal here on Earth, and you have zero jurisdiction here, so butt out,Dragon.”
Ah, Val?Sindari had found his way to shore and was sitting by the fence and watching over the girl.Remember what I said about goadingdragons?
No.
Don’t.
Oh, was that it? You’d think I could remember something so short andsimple.
Yes, Iwould.
“The Dragon Justice Court has jurisdiction everywhere. Just because your ignorant people don’t know it, does not mean it’s not true. Be afraid of the day when they decide to make their rule known here.” Zav looked at the cloudy night sky and his voice grew softer. “Or destroy the infestation on this world so that someone besides criminals and law enforcers will be comfortable visitingagain.”
I swallowed. He didn’t mean humans, did he? Even these dragons couldn’t truly have the power to wipe out all of humanity. I sure hoped that wasn’t something being discussed among his arrogantkind.
Zav reached for me, and this time a spelldidhold me. I tried to spring back, but I couldn’t move. My boots turned into hundred-pound weights. His hand slipped into my duster, knuckles brushing my side through my wetshirt.
“What are you doing?” I blurted, horrified and shocked at the thought that I might get felt up by a dragon. Well, maybe not entirely horrified. He made a handsome human, and all that tingling and electricity could make sexinteresting.
I scowled fiercely at him and at the thoughts. Was heputtingthat in mymind?
His hand went to my inside zip pocket, not anything more personal, and he drew out the sample case that Zoltan had given me, where I’d carefully tucked my painfully acquired vials of blood. If he took the case as some punishment, I’d clobber him. Some way or another, I’d clobberhim.
Zav flipped it open, drew an empty vial and syringe, then closed the case and returned it to my pocket. He studied the syringe, his brow furrowing slightly. I doubted he’d ever seen one before. But he must have gotten the gist, for he pushed up his sleeve, then jabbed the needle into one of the veins snaking down the top of hisforearm.
“That’s not the vein people usuallyuse.”
Zav operated the syringe one-handed, filling it without trouble. A few seconds later, he pulled out the needle, ignoring the blood streaming down his arm, and gave me the syringe. “I assume you can handle pouring it from one container to theother.”
“Yes. I can dress and feed myself on my owntoo.”
He eyed mecoolly.
Shit, I hadn’t meant to be sarcastic. “Thank you,” I made myself say. Why was it so hard to force those wordsout?
Leaving me with the syringe and vial, Zav stepped back and turnedaway.
“Think about my offer,” he said over his shoulder as he walked toward the parkinglot.
“Your offer of slavery?” I was thankful he’d given me the blood, but that didn’t mean I was going to become his faithfulminion.
“To work on the side of the law and atone for yoursins.”
“As aslave.”
“As bait.” He kept walking, the shadows swallowing his dark hair and darkrobe.
“So much better. Thank you for this gracious offer. I’ll definitely think about it, probably while I’m throwing axes at a picture of a black dragon stapled to thewall.”
He looked back over his shoulder, those glowing violet eyes gleaming out of the darkness.I will have a picture of myself delivered to your domicile so that you needn’t use anything inferior for thepurpose.
“I can’t wait,” Imuttered.
Even before he’d said that, I’d been positive I would see him again. It might be a good idea to find out what powers Chopper had that I didn’t know about. If only for self-defensepurposes.
As Zav shifted into his dragon shape, I realized that the gouge in my side from the dark-elf crossbow quarrel was gone. Completely healed. Had he done that when he touchedme?
Before I could think of thanking Zav, he sprang into the air, flying over the empty parking lot and heading out toward Puget Sound. Or maybe flying to the local print shop to have a huge poster of himself made forme.
